Tag: inattention

…Or Maybe It’s Just Me?

Cross this country in a car
Enough, and as the years unwind
You’ll find each highway hides a scar
Denoting someone left behind

In roadside rests or picnic places,
Information plazas where
You’d checked the manifest–no spaces–
Left…and someone wasn’t there.

Happily for all concerned
Our parties always reunited,
Some before the jetsam learned
We’d left (at which the rest delighted).

Regardless of attendant drama
In the instant, though, the ghost
Of each and every microtrauma
Haunts me still, from coast to coast.

Yawp

I yawp, I yelp, I caterwaul,
Detecting no effect at all.
I squawk, vociferate and clamor,
Bellow, bawl, I yell, I yammer…
No one even looks at me.
Man, I hate the D.M.V.

The Exercist

Running on empty
Too long after dark.
It’s late, you’re exhausted,
You cut through the park.
The footsteps behind you
Approach much too fast
To react to. You scream
As you grab for your cash
And you hold it out, hollering
“Take it and go!
Just don’t hurt me, I beg you!”
You brace for the blow…
When you open your eyes
You’re alone in the dark
Trembling fist clenching cash
On the path of fresh bark.
A deep, shuddering breath
Then you mutter and turn
Back to follow the jogger.
Sheesh! When will you learn?

Prompted by November PAD Chapbook Challenge 2011 – Day 14